Where to give birth - hospital choice?

[Lemoncurd]

Sorry this isn't really a moneysaving question but I hope someone can help.
I'm 33 weeks pregnant and will be moving house in the next 4-5 weeks so will at some point need to make a decision on where to give birth. We're only moving about 12 miles so it doesn't rule out the hospital I'm currently booked into (St Peters Chertsey). However this hospital was featured in a recent report as having been investigated due to a high number of maternal/infant deaths, one quote cited that feuding between consultants was jeopardising patient care. St Peters does however have a newly refurbished maternity unit. The closest hospital to our new home will be Wexham Park, Slough which I've always avoided in the past as I'd found it a bit grotty (I know many hospitals are) but to be honest know very little about the maternity unit. I've been told from several sources that there is a shortage of midwives there. The advantage of Wexham Park is that it is closer and with a toddler that has got to make a big difference, however with moving so close to the birth I may not have had any antenatal care with them and I don't know if that will be a problem.
To further complicate the decision I had a difficult birth with my daughter, in second stage labour for nearly 4 1/2 hours, needed to be prepared for a c/s and taken to theatre just in case but she was born with the help of a ventouse, I then lost three litres of blood and she weighed over 10lb. Therefore we're a bit nervous about this delivery and special precautions need to be taken to try and avoid/be prepared for something similar happening again.

Does anyone have any experience of these two hospitals or any advice?

[Gingham Ribbon]

No experience of either hospital, but home births are very safe and you are probably entitled to one on the NHS (barring certain factors such as pre eclampsia or previous c section.)

If there are complications you can be taken in to the hospital you choose as your backup. It is very rare that there would be a sudden emergency. Things tend to happen much more slowly than that. (As you sound like you know well!)

I used a pool (available to hire) in my dining room and it was the most effective pain relief I had through the whole labour. I was in it for 12 hours.

Unfortunately, I developed complications and did go to hospital, where I was given an epidural, spinal block and finally a general anaesthetic! I too lst a lot of blood and was given a transfusion. However, that was NOTHING to do with trying at home first and I was really glad I'd given it a go. I also know lots of mums who've successfully given birth at home and found it a wonderful experience.

I'm not saying that's what you should do. I'm just saying that your choice is more open than that of the local hospitals.

Good luck. Very exciting times ahead! :j

PS check out http://www.sheilakitzinger.com/Homebirth.htm I don't know how to make links so I hope this makes sense.

Also AIMS are very good at helping families get the right care. (I think it stands for Association for Improvement in Maternity Services?)

[rach1973]

I had a homebirth with my youngest (after a ventouse delivery with my first)
It was so relaxing, and I felt totally at ease.

Have a good chat to your Midwife and explain your worries....do they not have a seperate maternity ward away from the hospital round where you are?

I hope you get some answers and have a wonderful hassle free labour.

[Murtle]

I'm not sure about the maternity ward. But I did my work experience at Wesham park hospital in Slough (this was a few years ago) but I also thought, how grotty when I arrived. After working there, I would have nothing but praise for the staff there. I worked in the physio section, but also did ward visits, coma patients, MS sufferers, children etc.

However, I was hit by a car (as a pedestrian) a couple of years later and ended up in their A+E department, after a 2hr wait, I was finally discharged, unable to walk, and leaning on two friends who collected me. I was told there was nothing wrong! Subsequently I went on to have two operations, one on each knee!!

This isn't meant to worry you or anything. But it highlighted to me, that although it looks awful it isn't that bad. and I guess each department has it's good side and bad side?!

Go into the hospital and ask to see the maternity unit. If you see mothers there, ask them what they think.

Good luck, don't panic and relax!! (it's easy for me to say - I haven't had kids!!)

[Lillibet]

Hi

Not sure how much help this will be as I'm not due to give birth until next week but I am booked into St Peters & so far their care has been excellent, the community midwives I have seen for ante-natal appointments have been a bit hit & miss (some excellent, a couple a bit "conveyer-belt" type attitude but nothing detrimental) however whenever I have been to the hospital I have been very impressed with their ante-natal care & attitudes, plus their facitlities seem very good (you can get a tour if you haven't seen the labour/post labour wards, PM me for phone no if required).

I don't know anything about Wrexham's maternity services but my Gradad was treated several times in there on general wards & eventually died there, can't say we were overly impressed with the attention he received on any of the occasions.

HTH & good luck

[Bossyboots]

My nephews and my niece were born at Wexham Park and my sisters-in-law were very happy with their care. The youngest is 7 thought so I don't know if it is true about a midwife shortage.

I would give the rest of the hospital a wide berth (no pun intended) though if I were you, particularly the orthopaedic department which, from quite a lot of recent experience has to be one of the most badly organised and run departments you would ever find.

[inkie]

Hello Lemoncurd - first of all good luck with the house move. I will try and offer some advice from a professional point of view based on the information that you have given - I am a midwife.
It should not make any difference as to whether you have received any antenatal care in a hospital or not to deliver there. I am assuming that you have hand-held notes with all your scan reports and blood test results in - if this is the case then this gives the staff the essential information that they will need - obviously the down side to this is that you may not know any of them there. Previous birth records are a bonus (these will be stored at the hospital where you had your previous baby) but when push comes to shove (pardon the pun) all of the essential information is in the hand-held notes.
With regard to other sugguestions of homebirth - then the real worry here is not the previous ventouse extraction ( I personally had a forceps with baby 1, followed by normal delivery with baby 2)- but the Post Partum Haemorrhage that you suffered. This is one of the things that can occur very quickly after delivery and would need immediate attention. Every maternity unit will have a criteria for a homebirth - and a previous PPH will be one of the contraindications for a home birth. That is not to say an independant midwife will not willingly take you on.
However, if you decided to go against the policy and deliver at home - the unit still has a duty to provide a midwife. In fact it is illegal for anyone to intentionally give birth without a 'qualified person' i.e. a registered midwife or a registered medical practitioner in attendance.
The best way forward would be to speak to your local midwife to voice concearns as she will know how the service is delivered (sorry another pun). For example, when I worked on Community - rather than ladies being asked to come in to Labour Ward to see if they were in established labour - we would go an examine them at home - this prevented a lot of false alarms ( I am thinking about you other child perhaps being dragged out of bed unnecessarily in the middle of the night). The system that we worked was that we delivered own our ladies and so they would be delivered by a midwife that they would get to know during their pregnancy.
So, go and have a chat with your midwife - or get in touch with the Supervisor of Midwives at the new unit concerned who would be able to advise you and allow you to go and have a tour of the unit.What matters is the standard of care delivery not how the unit looks. MOst units have a 'home from home room which is kitted out like normal bedroom rather than a clinical room - but will still have all the essential equipment in it discreetly placed.

I am sure that all will go well.
HTH
INkie

[mancitychick]

I have experience of both hospitals anti natal care only though (eventually gave birth in Queen Charlottes & Chelsea Hospital - moving 3 times when pregnant not a great idea!) Also known plenty of people that have used Wexham PArk for all manner of things and I can say without hesitation that I would go with St Peters and give Wexham Park a big no.

[Savvy_Sue]

I would ask how 'recent' the recent report was before you let it scare you off. And as well as all the other sources of information, you could also try contacting PALS (Patient and Advice Liaison Service) at either or both hospitals to ask about your concerns.

Other thoughts: if you like your current midwifery team, I'd go for continuity of care. If you're iffy, contact the other place. And despite having a 'community' midwife each time, I delivered 3 babies, 1 in hospital and 2 at home, with complete strangers each time! 'My' midwife was always unavailable. Super afterwards though.

Oh, and I managed to scare the hospital rigid before one of my home births because I had a labour scare one night before I'd been given my 'rota' of who was on call for me. So I had to call the hospital. They wanted me to go in, I declined, was prepared to 'wait and see' how things went, so they found someone to come out for me.

[mows]

W.r.t inkie's post, it is NOT illegal to give birth without a qualified person present. It is illegal for a non-qualified person to assist you in giving birth (although this legislation is intended to prevent people masquerading as midwives or similar, and is unlikely to be invoked if others gave assistance in an emergency). However, it is not illegal to give birth on your own, or with others present but not assisting.
Having clarified that point, I wish you every success in choosing a way of giving birth which suits your needs.
All the very best
mows.

[Bossyboots]

W.r.t inkie's post, it is NOT illegal to give birth without a qualified person present. It is illegal for a non-qualified person to assist you in giving birth (although this legislation is intended to prevent people masquerading as midwives or similar, and is unlikely to be invoked if others gave assistance in an emergency). However, it is not illegal to give birth on your own, or with others present but not assisting.
Having clarified that point, I wish you every success in choosing a way of giving birth which suits your needs.
All the very best
mows.

Thats just as well. My friend gave birth on her bathroom floor when she alone in the house!

[mows]

Sorry, I should have clarified further. It is not illegal to INTENTIONALLY give bith without a suitably qualified person present...although obviously a woman intending to do this would need to give the matter careful consideration IMO!

[carpool72]

Hi Lemoncurd,

You could also try getting in touch with your local NCT. As part of their training, the NCT antenatal teachers have to review the lcoal maternity provision and they have a lot of contact with expectant & new pareants so it's likely that a teacher or even the booking secretary will have some knowledge of the local hospitals & maternity units. You don't have to be a member or sign up for classes to get help - one of the main aims of the charity is to support EVERY expectant & new parent.

I hope everything goes well for you this time round!

[Lillibet]

Hi Lemoncurd

Just to let you know I gave birth at St Peters 6 days ago, the labour ward was excellent, the midwives were wonderful with advice & very respectful of my wishes & birth plan and talking through various options etc. We eventually ended up in theater expecting a c-section as Spud got stuck (!) but we narrowly avoided it with a long vontuse delivery. The theater staff, anethisist (Sp?) & consultant were all excellent & I couldn't have asked for better.
We were in the high dependency unit for one night as I suffered massive blood loss, HDU was OK but there was a run of emergenices after me and staff were a bit thin on the ground, I got by with advice from experienced mums in other beds rather than actual help from the midwives at this point.

The post labour ward was very very hot, vary very noisy & the staff so over stretched that it was beyond a joke, they simply didn't have any time to help or advise. I was given the all clear to leave at 11am and we waited until 9.30pm to get offical sign off etc, in the end I announced I was leaving in 15 minutes regardless of whether they discharged us or not, the midwife in charge said a shift changeover was about to happen & I had no chance of being offically discharged in 15 mins so to leave & come back the next day! Only after kicking up a real fuss the following morning did they find my notes (they had lost them overnight), supply me with the drugs which they hadn't even noted I needed the previous day & complete the discharge paperwork!
My advice : Give birth there but try & get discharged from the labour ward, you'll be better off in your own home. The standard of care was excellent but there simply wasn't enough of it.

[Lemoncurd]

Congratulations Lillibet!! and thank you for replying with your experience. I've just read your story open mouthed - it sounded so similar to what happened to me last time. I hope everything is going well for you.

Thanks to everyone else for replying as well it has been so helpful.

I asked my midwife last week about the negative reports about St Peters and she thought I must have misread them (quite possible!) saying that 3 years ago they were zero rated but since then the hospital has turned around, they've received extra funding and now have the maximum rating and the maternity unit is well staffed. We've decided we will still go there when the time comes and are very happy with the decision.

[Gingham Ribbon]

Lovely news, Lillibet! I hope you're feeling well and getting some sort of rest!